GENEVA — Human rights violations in Myanmar may amount to crimes against humanity and could warrant a UN inquiry, a UN expert said in a report to be examined next Monday at the Human Rights Council.
"According to consistent reports, the possibility exists that some of these human rights violations may entail categories of crimes against humanity or war crimes under the terms of the statute of the International Criminal Court," said Tomas Quintana in his report to the council.
Quintana, who visited the South-east Asian country in February, pointed out that the "mere existence of this possibility" requires the Myanmar government to investigate the allegations.
However, the ruling junta has failed to remedy abuses such as the recruitment of child soldiers, the discrimination against the Muslim minority in the northern Rakhine state and the deprivation of the population's basic rights to food, shelter, health and education.
"Given this lack of accountability, UN institutions may consider the possibility to establish a commission of inquiry with a specific fact finding mandate to address the question of international crimes," he said.
Quintana noted that "systematic violation of human rights" for years in the country continues without any intervention from the junta.
He charged that the violations "are the result of a state policy that originate from decisions by authorities in the executive, military and judiciary at all levels."
The expert, who completed his report before new election laws were unveiled this week by the junta, also renewed a call for the Myanmar government to release more than 2,100 political prisoners, as well as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of this year's elections.
Rights groups such as the United States Campaign for Burma -- a coalition of Myanmar activists in exile and human rights campaigners -- hailed Quintana's report.
"This is the first time in the nearly 20 years of UN involvement in my country that an UN official made a credible, meaningful and important recommendation to help transform the situation in Burma," said Aung Din, who is executive director of the US Campaign for Burma.
"I hope the UN Security Council and other UN institutions will act accordingly to set up a commission of inquiry, suggested by the Special Rapporteur without further delay. This is the time for action," added Aung.
Myanmar's "severe human rights abuses" -- including deaths in custody, rape and torture -- were also highlighted in a separate report released Thursday by the US State Department.
The State Department's annual report said that Buddhist monks were subjected to particularly "cruel treatment," including beatings, due to the role the clergy played in 2007 pro-democracy protests crushed by the junta.
It also reported severe repression of ethnic minorities including the forced displacement of villagers to make way for development and migration by Burmese.
The report quoted a refugee group as documenting more than 4,000 cases of rape, forced labor and other abuses against the Karen minority in the past several years across 190 villages.
Child soldiers were also a major problem, with the military forcibly enlisting children as young as 14, the report said.
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